Gameland is Cook’s getaway

Dane Cook's new album, "Isolated Incident," launched Tuesday to huge iTunes sales numbers. And Vegas is the first place he's hitting for a three-night stand, tonight through Sunday at the Palms.

"Isolated Incident" is funny and personal. Cook jokes about calling his dead mother's cell phone, while lambasting "haters" who send him nasty e-mails. And true to his younger appeal, he talks about how video games are his form of meditation.

"Except for standing onstage, it's the only other place that clears out everything out of my mind. I just focus on the game," Cook tells me.

Cook bought his first house this year and his first order of business was turning a giant bedroom into a game room, so he can be "jacked into the Matrix."

"I'm like a James Bond villain in this room," he says. "I have this massive, 140-inch, triple-bulb, HD projection system."

If that doesn't sound awesome enough, his surround sound system features a woofer under his chair in the center of the room. But he turned down his game installers' plan to put Cook in a "Gravitron" chair that would rotate and vibrate in sync with driving tanks and stabbing Nazis.

"I was afraid if I had a Gravitron chair, it might throw off my sniping," he says of shooting online gamers with a sniper rifle.

Cook is the real deal with games. He doesn't use cheat books. He's owned every console available since he was a kid. And his all-time favorite might be the first "Legend of Zelda": "I stabbed every bush." (Didn't we all?)

Cook could end up as a character in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" when it comes out in November for Xbox 360, PS 3 and PC.

"I don't want to let it out of the bag yet," he says, but "I got a sneak peek at that and played the multiplayer."

If he does co-star in the solo mission for "Modern Warfare 2," he says with a laugh: "I'm sure I would get shot repeatedly. That would be a great gift to send out to all my haters. You can actually shoot and kill Dane Cook within the game. Have at it!"

HOLIDAY PLANNER

Cheech and Chong tell me cops stole weed from one of their movie sets. That's in today's Neon section, along with more interviews, and showtimes and ticket prices for Cook and this holiday weekend's massive number of shows: Scott Weiland tonight at Aliante ... Whoopi Goldberg tonight-Saturday at Encore ... Vegas' own Crystal Method tonight at House of Blues ... Cheech and Chong Saturday at Palms ... Jesse McCartney Saturday at Henderson Pavilion ... The Allman Brothers Band Sunday at Red Rock Resort ... Taylor Swift and Kelli Pickler Saturday at Mandalay Bay ... Joe Rogan tonight at House of Blues ... Ozomatli tonight at the Hard Rock pool ... the Beach Boys Saturday at Mandalay Bay pool ... and the DJ Love Festival tonight-Sunday at Palms clubs.

Also look for Wyclef Jean to grace club LAX on Sunday ... Terrell Owens makes an appearance Sunday at Rok Vegas at New York-New York ... and Kendra Wilkinson of "The Girls Next Door" walks into MGM's dayclub pool Wet Republic at 3:30 p.m. today.

E-mail delfman@reviewjournal.com or blog-post at reviewjournal.com/elfman.